Barapukuria coal mine

Barapukuria coal mine is an underground coal mine at Barapuluria in the Dinajpur District in Bangladesh. The mine is operated by Barapukuria Coal Mining Co. Ltd (BCMCL), the coal mining subsidiary of Petrobangla, a government owned oil, gas and mining company.

The U.S. Geological Suervey reports that "the coal mine had a production capacity of 1 Mt/yr of coal. Coal extraction was by long-wall mining. The coal was delivered to a thermal powerplant. Development work of the next long-wall coal face was underway, and production was expected to begin in 2007," the USGS reports.

Impacts
The 2,500-acre underground mine includes 650 acres of agricultural land on the surface. The International Accountability Project reports that mining operations at Barapukuria have destroyed roughly 300 acres of land, impacting about 2,500 people in seven villages, as land subsidence of over one meter in depth has destroyed crops and lands and damaged homes. People in 15 villages have also reportedly lost their access to water, as huge quantities of water pumped out for the Barapukuria mine caused a rapid drop in water levels.

Those affected by land subsidence are seeking compensation and repair of their homes. The Daily Star reports that the mine’s operator, Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd, has proposed building and resettling them in eight to ten “tin sheds”. Faced with resistance by people in Barapukuria, Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the energy adviser to the prime minister, announced that the government was considering plans to establish a "Coal City" near Barapukuria, which would provide housing and new sources of livelihood for victims of land subsidence. According to Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the resettlement of people whose homes have been destroyed is to be carried out in phases. The Coal City would initially be designed to provide homes and livelihoods for 10,000 families, but may ultimately expand to 100,000 families.

Since coal mining began in 2005, there have been a series of fatal and near-fatal accidents, including the death of a British mining expert caused by inhaling poisonous gases, a gas leakage accident in 2005 that required the closing and sealing off a portion of the mine, and a roof cave-in on May 11, 2010 that killed one worker and wounded 19 people. Engineers report that government policy makers have failed to heed their warnings about inadequate health, safety and environmental provisions in the Barapukuria mine, with some stating that standard safety procedures are virtually non-existent at the mine.

Open-pit mining
In October 2010, the Bangladesh government said it plans to develop the northern part of Barapukuria coalmine through the open pit mining method to boost coal output and feed proposed coal-fired power plants in the future. The energy ministry want to use the Barapukuria coalmine as a pilot project for open pit mining in Bangladesh. The Prime Ministed has asked the energy ministry to move forward with the plan, according to a senior energy ministry official. The government would conduct a feasibility study before undertaking the open pit mining method instead of the current underground mining.

Officials said the planned northern part of Barapukuria coalmine has 271 hectares of land, where around 5,000 villagers have either dwellings or farm lands. The government said it will compensate the affected people; each of the affected families might get Tk 2.0 million for each acre, according to a senior Barapukuria Coal Mining Company official.

The vicinity of the Barapukuria coal mine is facing land subsidence from underground mining. The first land subsidence was reported in 2005, when the Chinese consortium led by China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) had just completed development of the coal mine. Another land subsidence took place in 2008, affecting croplands, commercial and domestic spaces, houses and many other infrastructures. The villagers then forced a halt to extraction of coal from the country's lone operational mine. Coal production, however, resumed after compensating the affected locals.

According to The Daily Sun, to ensure uninterrupted coal production, the government has a plan to "rehabilitate affected people in Barapukuria coalmine sites by 2012."

Protests against open pit mining
On May 5, 2011, locals blocked railways and a highway protesting the government's plan for open pit mining at the Barapukuria Coal Mine. The demonstrators - under the banner of National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Minerals Resources, Power and Port - numbered in the thousands, and demanded compensation for loss of aman crops and postponement of the ongoing land survey. Hundreds of people from Chowhaati, Durgapur, Shahgram, Rambhadrapur, Yousufpur and Bagra villages attacked the 'National Committee' members. At least five people were injured during the ten-minute-long clash.

Peabody eyeing Barapukuria mine
Barapukuria's existing contract with a Chinese company will expire in 2011, and Peabody has expressed interest in mining the area.

On March 20, 2011, it was reported that Peabody Energy high profile company officials, including director Mr Jack Rogayski, visited the Barapukuria in north Bangladesh. Mohammad Quamruzzaman MD of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited said that "Senior executives of Peabody visited this week and expressed eagerness to invest in coal mining." He added that Barapukuria's existing contract with a Chinese company will expire in 2011. Barapukuria has a proven reserve of around 389 million tonnes of coal and the company expects to extract 10% to 20% of the total reserves through underground mining within the next 30 years. As of March 2011, the government has extracted less than four million tonnes of coal from the mine.

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